Yesterday I took down the Christmas tree, which as always, made me teary and nostalgic, not only for three weeks ago when we hung the ornaments, but for all the Christmases those ornaments had survived, relics from my childhood even, which when pulled from that brittle dead tree, cast a spell that sent me back, rapid pace, through the years. I’m such a sap.

I was going to take down all the decorations, but got caught up reading the holiday cards instead.

First, I would like to thank everyone who sent us one this year. I truly enjoy seeing all of your faces smiling at us for the weeks that they are displayed on our mantle. Everyone looks great, btw. Your kids sure have grown. Goodness. And some of you are so witty. Really, I mean that. You know who you are. It’s particularly nice to get cards from old friends who I never see, who live on the other coast and whose path I would otherwise never cross. Thank you for including us in your mailing list.

I always make my card — picture on the front, brief greeting inside — but I have never written an end-of-year-summery-letter to catch everyone up on our fabulous lives.

Here goes:

Dear friends,

2011 was filled with surprises and milestones. Law and Order Los Angeles was cancelled after only one season, making it the first in its historic franchise not to be syndicated. Personally, I gave up when they killed cute Skeet Ulrich, even though they’d squandered his charms on a bland character that was the married father of three. I mean, if I’m up past my bedtime, please give me Skeet as the sexy bad boy that made him famous in Scream. On the bright side, Joe enjoyed his 3 1/2 month sojourn in Chicago, sullied though it was by hysterical phone calls from his wife.

Tess added fried calamari to the short list of foods she will eat. Strange item, but it allows us to order out from my favorite Thai restaurant. She also admitted that the reason she won’t eat something that has shared a plate with ketchup is because she is afraid that if she tastes it, she might like it after all. At school she is focusing on not singing Adelle songs during math class. She continues to struggle with managing her accessories, but is doing much better now that her teacher has confiscated all but a few headbands.

Ronan started clipping his own fingernails and even does his homework now without a fuss. He loved The Hunger Games series, (so did I), but hard as I try to explain the war metaphors, he thinks 24 kids fighting to their deaths sounds “really awesome.” At home, he is working on picking up his shit, but is not excelling. While ignoring the Legos, pajamas and wet towels cluttering his room, Ronan successfully cracked into my iTunes account and purchased 3 months allowance worth of make-believe gold. Ironically, that forced him to take a real job at the Gallagher Household literally picking up shit – as in the dog poop in our backyard.

As for me, I started out the year with a bang, working on that sorry novel of mine with an editor. I stalled out half way through the rewrite for a number of reasons, one of which I am sure was the fact that I finally figured out how to watch Netflix via our Wii. This was indeed a tech breakthrough for me and has given me thousands of excuses for never doing anything but watch TV.